Rolling Country 2022

Oho----Stoney Edwards finally added to a bunch of streaming services:
https://stoneyedwards.lnk.to/Stream?utm_source=dotmailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=217444_UMe%20Newsletter%20-%206%2F27%2F22_231803_US&dm_i=4YUZ,4NS4,9J3W9,MLOJ,1

https://linkstorage.linkfire.com/medialinks/images/64f92cae-864e-4ebd-b2f0-bb665e117cdf/artwork-440x440.jpg

Edd Hurt turnt me on to his LPs----here's xgau, with too low a grade for the second album, but fair-enough takes on both:

Mississippi, You're on My Mind [Capitol, 1975]
Scandalously underrecorded, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that he's black, Edwards remains firm in his allegiances. "Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul," he announces, and though he sounds more like Lefty than Hank and more like Merle than either, he's got a right. The voice has Haggard's swing and melismatic burr, but it's more powerful, an advantage except when it gets too thick. And though Edwards literally can't read or write, he makes up good songs and picks better ones. Between "We Sure Danced Us Some Good Ones," a believable account of a good marriage in a music that reserves its honesty for the bad ones, to "Summer Melodies," about innocent fun, he touches all the bases without sententiousness or whoop-de-doo. Country soul indeed. A-

Blackbird [Capitol, 1976]
In which well-meaning producer Chip Taylor provides Edwards with a wonderful title tune about "a couple of country niggers/Stealin' the rodeo" while nudging him in a rockish, folkish direction, probably in the belief that he has a better shot at an audience over there. The results are hardly disgraceful, though Joe Cocker didn't get away with six minutes worth of "Bird on a Wire" either. But the straight country album Edwards did last year was a lot tougher. When people in Nashville get serious, they have a tendency to fall for pretentious schmaltz--that's the story of Mickey Newbury's life. A lot of this, straight country and folkish-rockish both, is too damn close to the edge. B+

Jake Blount's Spider Tales got a good RC reception---The New Faith(9/23) takes his kind of tales further:

This record features ten reimagined and reinterpreted traditional Black spirituals across twelve tracks in addition to two original spoken word pieces...The album manifests our worst fears on the shores of an island in Maine, where Blount enacts an imagined religious ceremony performed by Black refugees after the collapse of global civilization due to catastrophic climate change. Most importantly, it snaps us out of our tragically limited historical vantage point to better understand our actions and culture as they exist in deep time...
"I have long felt a powerful draw to the old spirituals passed down in my community," writes Blount. "I am an unlikely devotee; I only rarely attended church as a child, declared myself an atheist at the tender age of eight and developed a strong antipathy toward Christianity when I began to understand my queerness. Nonetheless, spirituals are the songs I bring to communal singing events. They are the songs I teach. In moments of homesickness, sorrow and fear, they are the songs I turn to for solace."

"The destruction of a way of life entails both loss and growth. The traditional songs I adapted for The New Faith originally developed among a people who had but recently been robbed of home, history, family, culture, and society. The unique history of African American people made our musical tradition an ideal candidate for my ambitious task. The New Faith is a statement of reverence for our devastating, yet empowering past; of anticipation and anxiety toward our uncertain future; and of hope that, come what may, something of us will yet survive.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3p20tC2k-w

https://folkways.si.edu/jake-blount/the-new-faith?mc_cid=f5a7e542c8&mc_eid=b45ecb38a9

His and other tour dates:
https://folkways.si.edu/tour

From New West, Sept. 2:

Recorded live on September 15, 1981, Live At Gilley’s captures Kris Kristofferson at a time in his career where he and his band were firing on all cylinders. Kristofferson was with a full band out on the road that featured Stephen Bruton, Donnie Fritts and Billy Swan. On this night, the band stopped by Gilley’s Honkytonk in Pasadena, Texas to deliver a once in a lifetime performance featuring the hits, “Me And Bobby McGee”, “The Pilgrim” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.”

“What a great album this is! Classic Kristofferson songs throughout, and live!! Kris was in his prime and his vocals were outstanding and very soulful as always.” - George Strait

His vocals, hmmm.

More about that album, from No Dep---don't think I've ever heard a live album from Gilley's, although

“Gilley’s could hold several thousand people, but the club was very intimate. You were right there on the stage with people all around you. You could bend down and shake hands with people,” recalls Mickey Gilley in liner notes written a few months before he died last May. “Right next to the club was the recording studio, and we recorded everything that was done onstage. We could record onto the 24-track machine that we had in the studio, then we would do the mixing … We booked a lot of shows around that time, including some people I didn’t think would want to play the club. We got some acts that made me think, ‘Are you kidding me?’ … Kris Kristofferson was one of those artists that I didn’t think would want to play Gilley’s, because he was such a big name and a tremendous talent.”

Me and Bobby McGee
Here Comes That Rainbow Again
Casey’s Last Ride
You Show Me Yours (And I’ll Show You Mine) / Stranger
Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore
Darby’s Castle
If It’s All the Same to You
The Pilgrim
For the Good Times
Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down
The Silver Tongued Devil and I
Smile at Me Again
Same Old Song
Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)
Why Me

Of all the dumb things I’ve seen on the internet today, and it’s a very competitive group, this is by far the dumbest. pic.twitter.com/DBPaZbmmXK

— Trey Wilson (@treywilson757) June 29, 2022

If you’ve spent time in rural sub Saharan Africa one thing that might shock you is the popularity of American country music to the point where you can’t go to a bar, party, or wedding without avoiding it 🧵 pic.twitter.com/gpYC7fdq78

— The Zimbabwean (@RisenChow) June 30, 2022

Up close and personal at the @sbBowl!! 😆 Thanks for hanging out with us Santa Barbara! We'll see you tonight @ShorelineAmp!!! https://t.co/XClILe0u7u#CHX2022 pic.twitter.com/BD8MoccKHP

— The Chicks (@thechicks) July 30, 2022

@thechicks you did not disappoint Santa Barbara ❤️ pic.twitter.com/RonYaUvNMx

— Nick Smay (@nicks4445) July 30, 2022

When the Newport Folk Festival approached Black Opry founder Holly G last November about curating a set at the 2022 fest, her initial response was disbelief. At that point, her organization only had one live show — the first-ever Black Opry Revue at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York — under its belt.

“It felt like a very big deal, especially because we were new,” she says. “That was a lot of trust they had to put in me, based on very little information that they had about who I was and what I was doing.”

A lifelong fan of country music who did not feel safe going to country shows, Holly created Black Opry in April 2021, envisioning it as an online space to celebrate the music she loved and offer a refuge for like-minded fans. Almost immediately, her website began attracting the attention of artists from all corners of the country, Americana, and roots world, and Holly became determined to create real-world opportunities for artists who had been tokenized or outright excluded.

Last September, the Black Opry hosted invite-only gatherings at an Airbnb in East Nashville dubbed the “Black Opry Outlaw House” during last year’s AmericanaFest, and the ideas and camaraderie there led to the first Black Opry Revue in New York. Less than a year later, Black Opry has put on more than 30 live revues across the country, featuring dozens of artists, with as many more events scheduled through the end of the year and a spot on next year’s Cayamo roots music cruise.

Reminding me I still need to check out those Dirty Laundry comps recently received

I wrote this month's @guardian music essay on African country music, Jamaica and my family's history with country. With shoutouts to @dustyandstones Uchenna Ikonne @lloydbradley @SoulCountry1 @BlackOpry @outsidechild13 @NTSlive and more. https://t.co/svHUFc63yD

— Jamal Khadar (@khadarfi) August 13, 2022

Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver, out Nov. 11 on New West:

TRACKLIST:

Willie Nelson Feat. Lucinda Williams - "I’m Gonna Live Forever"
Ryan Bingham Feat. Nikki Lane- "Ride Me Down Easy"
Rodney Crowell - "Old Five And Dimers Like Me"
Miranda Lambert - "I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond Someday)"
Edie Brickell - "I Couldn’t Be Me Without You"
Nathaniel Rateliff - "You Asked Me To"
George Strait - "Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me"
Amanda Shires Feat. Jason isbell - "Honky Tonk Heroes"
Steve Earle - "Ain’t No God In Mexico"
Margo Price Feat. Joshua Hedley - "Ragged Old Truck"
Willie Nelson - "Georgia On A Fast Train"
Allison Russell - "Tramp On Your Street"

oh shit that looks so good

YEAH Hello in There is a SAD SONG, but what YOU don’t realize is it’s actually a crushing indictment of the AMERICAN DREAM- the couple did everything you’re SUPPOSED to do, but at the end they’re LONLEY & FORGOTTEN! It’s really a more cogent takedown than The Great Gat pic.twitter.com/XK55if6gt2

— OH BOY Records (@ohboyrecords) August 17, 2022

All Roads Lead Back To Red: A Pedal Steel Mixtape / Volume 2 https://t.co/A7GnO8pUs5

This mix picks up where All Roads Lead To Red: A Pedal Steel Mixtape left off, delving deeper into the sessionography of the Velvet Hammer, Orville “O.J” “Red” Rhodes. pic.twitter.com/XJGyRlyhnq

— aquarium drunkard (@aquadrunkard) August 20, 2022

from Omnivore:

http://omnivorerecordings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Owens-Bakersfield-Gold-OV-485-768x768.jpg

Buck Owens And The Buckaroos
Bakersfield Gold: Top 10 Hits 1959–1974
Release date: September 2, 2022

Forty six Top 10 Hits (including 19 #1’s) on double-CD, triple-LP, and Digital.
Buck Owens is a country music icon. As one of the best-selling artists of the 1960s, he accumulated numerous Top 10 hits with 19 of them reaching the #1 top spot on the charts. Now all of Owens’ Top Ten hits from 1959–1974 have been compiled on Bakersfield Gold: Top 10 Hits 1959–1974.

Collecting 46 tracks, this release is available as a double-CD, triple-LP, and Digital release. Featuring new liner notes from Grammy®-nominee, Randy Poe (author of Buck ‘Em: The Autobiography Of Buck Owens), this is the first collection to compile Buck’s Top 10 hits on vinyl, with a limited edition gold vinyl version for independent retail.

Bakersfield Gold is the ultimate collection of Owens’ biggest hits, with The Buckaroos, Rose Maddox, Buddy Alan, Susan Raye, and more. With its availability across all formats, this is a perfect introductory collection for the new fan, and an incredible ride for those who already love the magic of Bakersfield.

2-CD / 3-LP / DIGITAL TRACK LIST:
DISC 1:
UNDER YOUR SPELL AGAIN
ABOVE AND BEYOND
EXCUSE ME (I THINK I’VE GOT A HEARTACHE)
FOOLIN’ AROUND
LOOSE TALK – Buck Owens & Rose Maddox
MENTAL CRUELTY – Buck Owens & Rose Maddox
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE
KICKIN’ OUR HEARTS AROUND
YOU’RE FOR ME
ACT NATURALLY
LOVE’S GONNA LIVE HERE
MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT
TOGETHER AGAIN
I DON’T CARE (JUST AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME)
I’VE GOT A TIGER BY THE TAIL
BEFORE YOU GO
ONLY YOU (CAN BREAK MY HEART)
GONNA HAVE LOVE
BUCKAROO
WAITIN’ IN YOUR WELFARE LINE
THINK OF ME
OPEN UP YOUR HEART
WHERE DOES THE GOOD TIMES GO
SAM’S PLACE

DISC 2:
YOUR TENDER LOVING CARE
IT TAKES PEOPLE LIKE YOU (TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE ME)
HOW LONG WILL MY BABY BE GONE
SWEET ROSIE JONES
LET THE WORLD KEEP ON A TURNIN’ – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
I’VE GOT YOU ON MY MIND AGAIN
WHO’S GONNA MOW YOUR GRASS
JOHNNY B. GOODE
TALL DARK STRANGER
BIG IN VEGAS
THE KANSAS CITY SONG
THE GREAT WHITE HORSE – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
I WOULDN’T LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY (IF THEY GAVE ME THE WHOLE DANG TOWN)
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
RUBY (ARE YOU MAD)
ROLLIN’ IN MY SWEET BABY’S ARMS
I’LL STILL BE WAITING FOR YOU
MADE IN JAPAN
BIG GAME HUNTER
ON THE COVER OF THE MUSIC CITY NEWS
(IT’S A) MONSTERS’ HOLIDAY
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Cat: OV-485

Ken Tucker on the ff reissued, heretofore elusive ,except as quickly removed playlists and and pricey eBay-bait, A Trip In The Country: Roger Miller bomb in 1970, when audiences were expecting more like "Dang Me," "King of the Road" and so on. None of the other excerpts quite come up to the level of the best-known track, "Invitation to the Blues," maybe because his singing isn't quite as strong as his writing, at least in the more serious, trad country vein, at least not in excerpts, but good coverage, and the album seems worth checking out: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1117092882/this-reissue-proves-roger-miller-was-more-than-just-a-novelty-act
---Although the 37-track King of the Road: A Tribute To Roger Miller is the best place that I know of to get into the full (or at least a good) range of his writing.

We apparently don't have a Maren Morris thread — which we should! — so I'll just post this here. She and Cassadee Pope calling out Jason Aldean's wife for anti-trans bigotry, with Candace Owen piling in in predictable ways.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/jason-aldean-wife-brittany-transphobic-post-reactions-1235131821/

Too bad (though totally understandable that) they took the bait. She doesn't deserve the attention. And of course SCM is on it like flies.

Meanwhile---any of yall heard this?? I hadn't heard of it.

I’m so lucky to have a fabulous sister..she’s inspiring to watch and see..
Jan. 2003 Allison Moorer recorded a LIvE album and asked me to join her and one of the best bands I’ve ever heard and played with.. if you haven’t heard it.. do it.. the album is called SHOW. It’s badass. pic.twitter.com/uWnF8AsbKK

— Shelby Lynne (@ogshelbylynne) August 29, 2022

Brittany Aldean may not deserve the attention, but "Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie" is a quality zing.

Rolling Stone Top 100 Country Albums

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-country-albums-1234581876/margo-price-9-1234582269/

(Surprise! No Mick Jagger!)

Oops, scroll up to see entries 100-82

New Tyler Childers project - sounds great

https://pitchfork.com/news/tyler-childers-and-the-food-stamps-announce-new-triple-album-share-new-song-angel-band-listen/

Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps have announced a new triple album. Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? is out September 30 via Hickman Holler Records and RCA. The self-produced project features eight new and traditional songs performed in three different ways—the Hallelujah version was recorded live; the Jubilee builds on those recordings with additional instruments; and Joyful Noise version will be revealed on release day. The Hallelujah and Jubilee versions of “Angel Band” are out now—Watch a video for “Angel Band (Jubilee Version),” directed by Bryan Schlam, below.

Also want to make sure to plug the Wilco/Jeff Tweedy poll here for the Uncle Tupelo-heads

Lotta good replies (oft incl links) on this thread:

What are your favorite country-inflected songs by folks who don't primarily play country? I'm thinking Pavement's "Range Life" and half the Silver Jews catalog.

— Ana (@_motherslug) September 8, 2022

Mine so far:

The dB's--"She Won't Drive In The Rain Anymore": another highlight of very good reunion album (aren't many of those). The true story, as told by Holsapple to https://t.co/FFDmM25VjU:
"It's about my wife evacuating New Orleans during Katrina..." https://t.co/l7PbOcJuhF

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 8, 2022

also: The Bangles (from Sweethearts of The Sun)
As I said on Nash Scene ballot: In " I'll Never Be Through With You," with Greg Leisz on steel, Hoffs calls like she's called, compelling and compelled: a standoff mebbe, strutting in need and testimony.https://t.co/eSGFcZYgGu

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 9, 2022

I don't even own a Twitter, so can I just:

Johnny Winter: "Ain't Nothing To Me"
ZZ Top: "She's A Heartbreaker"
Steely Dan: "Pearl of The Quarter"
Sleater-Kinney: "Restless"
Humble Pie: "Theme From Skint (See You Later Liquidator)"

Oh, and Dave Edmunds: "A.1. On The Jukebox" and "Worn Out Suits, Brand New Pockets", which I can't believe wasn't a Buck Owens song to begin with.

Yeh mang, that there Winter comes through my head pretty often.

G./McC. also picks ZZ Top's "She's A Heartbreaker." I'll add more Stones: "Dead Flowers," "Memory Motel," "Wild Hosses," mebbe "Daddy You're A Fool To Cry" ("OOO-ooooo") https://t.co/mWGB2SzClS

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 9, 2022

Thanks for the shoutout!

In other news, Kill Rock Stars is adding a Nashville imprint. Trans singer-songwriter Mya Byrne first signee.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/mya-byrne-autumn-sun-kill-rock-stars-1234588530/?

Haven't read the thread but a few that come to mind: the Stones' "Far Away Eyes", Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down," The Smiths' "Vicar in a Tutu," The Shins' "Gone for Good," Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest," Fleetwood Mac's live version of "Say You Love Me," Talking Heads' "Creatures of Love,"

Something similarly fun I was thinking of lately was great rock song covers by country artists, such as Justin Townes Earle's cover of "Can't Hardly Wait" or Sturgill Simpson's cover of "In Bloom."

Stones did about an album's-worth of country, didn't they? Hint hint to somebody.

Can't find it now, but on their ancient CMT Crossroads, some performances from which are on YouTube, Willie Nelson plays coruscating guitar all over Sheryl Crow's crowing "Every Day Is A Winding Road" (if crossover duets count).
He and Sinead O'Connor also did a credible cover of "Don't Give Up," originally recorded by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, not the easiest thing to pull off: it seems intentionally, is at least appropriately, resistant to resolution, being about a couple in recession.
Songbird, his album with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, sounds pretty wild, kinda precarious, but it works, I think, as cranked-up country rock, esp. "$1,000 Wedding," also a good "Stella Blue." That there Coldplay cover on Willie's Heroes lets fly too.
He and Waylon did "Whiter Shade of Pale," and Waylon did that whole posthumously released basement album recorded by Shooter, with "White Room" etc.

Elizabeth Cook did a good "Sunday Morning"---on Twitter, I called for a country duet of "Pale Blue Eyes," and Kelly Hogan sent me hers with Alejandro Escovedo. She's great, but I like him better in bands, playing guitar more than singing.

Lee Ann Womack does a deevine "Out On The Weekend," although that's kinda country to start with, isn't it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtcx-zv-ijg

This is the only country song I've ever heard Bonnie Raitt do: "Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes," written by Nan O'Byrne (would like to hear more of hers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtcx-zv-ijg

Sorry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRQgdEO1-M

It's not a sing-along with all those guys, just last song of the Calgary show, so they get together at the end.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Know the rock-cover-by-country-artist is relatively common (Cash's American Recordings, Willie's Stardust probably counts, et al.) but was specifically curious about favorites. I should also note Emmylou's "C'est La Vie" rendition. Funny you should pick that LAW cover, as I just listened to "I Have Not Forgotten You" from the same album, a truly lovely Bruce Robison penned tune that was bizarrely cut from the vinyl release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1lQOnqIECI

Yeah, she did a good "Tougher Than The Rest" and "Wrecking Ball" too. The ones I mentioned mostly were faves---could live w/o "Whiter Shade" and "White Room" (they're ok though)

Also! Willie's "Halluejah" is by far my fave version of that over-recorded, over-featured-in-cop-shows-as-they're-zipping-up-body-bags-etc. toon, and was also more than pleasantly surprised by his covers of "American Tune" and "Graceland"---could see him doing whole albums of Simon and Cohen ("Tower of Song" is on his latest, awright)

https://mcusercontent.com/1755f680a94812878dab15b5b/images/43be8f93-9e45-292d-8035-77c54e6d1e08.jpg

omg clutch the pearls thought that was Suzi Quatro/Leather Tuscadero w The Residents @ first! Wade's Reckless Deluxe Edition (Jan. '22) demanded to be in my 2021 Top Ten. Get it if you haven't, listen again if you have. https://t.co/1Cf35KZ3HY

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 16, 2022

Oh Wow---speaking of my Top Tens, here are Willis, Carper, and new-to-me (good rep) Leigh---intriguing--- https://t.co/DthecgirqA

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 16, 2022

Brennen Leigh did nice old school duets record w/Jessie Dayton back in the 2000s.

she also just made a good western swing album with Asleep at the Wheel: https://brennenleigh.bandcamp.com/album/obsessed-with-the-west

That Brennen Leigh & A@tW album is fantastic; she did a whole album of Lefty Frizzell covers a couple of years ago, too, and it was definitely worth checking out. And I've been a Willis fan since her major label run in the early 90s. She's long been one of the very best there is.

New Ashley McBryde out!

I just finished the (excellent) Her Country book, and it's hard to conclude anything other than that we are in a golden age of excellent female country or country adjacent singer-songwriters. Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Mickey Guyton, Ashley Monroe, supergroups like the Highwomen and Pistol Annies, Brittney Spencer, the new Plains super-duo, Yola, Ashley McBryde, Hailey Whitters, Morgan Wade ...

mentioned this on the Waxahatchee thread but I find the Plains album very lopsided, owing in large part to my love of Waxahatchee and general unfamiliarity with Jess Williamson.

But also, it doesn't feel like a real group - I can't tell in any way that Waxahatchee's presence enhances Williamson's songs, nor vice versa. It's more like a split and the songs are just shuffled rather than a-side/b-side.

hey Indexed here’s one of those Tyler Childers songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqrxHOKhOBE